Indicators for guitar Strumming Direction and force

[Kevin Tough]

I have just searched through the 2.18.0 snippets and not really found
what I was hoping for. I would like to indicate how to strum songs with
lilypond. The "Pitch_squash_engraver" automatically gives me the correct
note heads and centers the score (I just need to break the bars at the
right place). 
Using the arrDown variable in my code I could not shift the symbol above
the staff and I also don't know how to type in whatever utf-8 symbols
are available.
The variable created with some sort of drawing commands in postscript
did not function at all. I had high hopes it would be very flexible
allowing me to create bold and normal arrows to indicate the force of
the strum. These also should go above the treble staff.
I found some symbols do work following the note letter name with a minus
sign. What symbols are available remains a question. I suspect there are
standard symbols other than arrows but I do not know them - perhaps
something like an upside down U ???
I must look further into what \improvisationOn does as it was in a
snippet I copied.

I would appreciate help in finding out if Lilypond can produce Strumming
Patterns for my use.

Namaste,
Kevin Tough